RL Photoshop Tutorial

    sooo - i'm giving a photoshop tutorial to a group of students in two weeks (twice actually, 30 per session) and I have to keep them entertained for about 7 hours (including breaks, so real time shedule is at about 5 hours).

    while some of them seem to know a little about photoshop (and some of them are pretty hardcore), there's a good bunch of them not knowing anything about it and I'd like to not go in there and teach anything like "this button is the brush and you can paint with it [insert point and click gesture in the presentation]" but show them some more intuitive stuff.

    while i see the need to teach at least the very basic UI elements, i'd like to push them to something productive. I thought about working with some kind of SDK and just have them pixelate some kind of texture for a lowpoly model but I don't know if that's appropriate for a real learning purpose.

    so my question to you: what would you think is the most important lesson one should learn when starting to use photoshop? and what could be a small project to help them learn it (they have no tablets in this course)?

    I tend to think to much into the direction of "this bevel and emboss effect looks shitty and your half-assed full-color-here,-gradients-there-style is awful" but seen from an objective point that's more a problem on the user's side, less on photoshop's behalf.

    Im no Guru but layer management is the big thing right? No matter what you do.

    I know when i first started using PS i had to always flattern an image baccause I didnt understand them very well ;(

    Quote from Sentura

    i'd use real life problems as examples and solve them by using the various tools

    Yeah, like when you're broke you use clone stamp to clone your money.

    Quote from Buddy

    [Blocked Image: http://4.media.tumblr.com/0LOD7ELvfkb7ceppKRSsR1epo1_500.jpg]

    way to misunderstand what i am saying, buddy.

    the easiest way to teach people something is by letting them see how it works in practice. ergo, you take some real life examples. say you have to create a texture or a poster or manipulate a few different photos; you could then pick out a few tools or techniques to do-over these examples, then hand people some exercises to try to work with it themselves.

    Our photoshop teacher starts of with basic things as the selection tools, layer management, using masks, color adjusting, cropping and resizing images, blending modes that kind of stuff. He always compares photoshop to a closet with a lot of boxes in it, every box is represnting a toolbar etc, comparing photoshop stuff with things you use or see in real life can clarify a lot for beginners...

    Quote from Sentura

    image

    way to misunderstand what i am saying, buddy.

    the easiest way to teach people something is by letting them see how it works in practice. ergo, you take some real life examples. say you have to create a texture or a poster or manipulate a few different photos; you could then pick out a few tools or techniques to do-over these examples, then hand people some exercises to try to work with it themselves.

    Yeah i was just being sarcasting, i knew what you originaly meant.

    Anyways that's the way to go tbh, be sure to not jus tell them what to do step-by-step but also try to explain WHY. Tutorials tend to just list you an amount of steps to take but dont tell why this and not another tool, its not leading anywhere.

    since i might get dissed for what i will say now, i will write it in german.

    ich wuerde voschlagen, dass du auch die blutigen anfaenger abholst. d.h. du kommst nicht drum herum auch wirklich grundlegende dinge zu erlaeutern. es wird nichts bringen alle werkzeuge vorzustellen und dann mit was praktischem zu starten. zeige ihnen 3-4 essentielle werkzeuge (pinsel, radierer, auswahl) und dann konfrontiere sie mit einer aufgabe. die studenten werden dann sicher irgendwann in die lage kommen ein problem sehr umstaendlich zu loesen, weil sie die kniffe und werkzeuge noch nicht gut genug kennen. dann ist es deine aufgabe, ihnen diese tricks zu zeigen.

    eine der schwierigsten sachen ist das denken in ebenen und das erkennen der vorteile, die daraus resultieren. das sollte jeder koennen. danach kannst du ihnen dann ja eine aufgabe geben wie z.B. "texturiere dieses objekt" oder erstelle eine "holz textur". letzteres ist fast einfacher, da man nicht in UV koordinaten denken muss, sondern einfach eine stofflichkeit erzeugt, die dann auf ein objekt zurechtgeschoben wird. damit meine ich im prinzip diese world textures z.B. aus dem source sdk. du kannst dir dann ja ein set ueberlegen, das sie abarbeiten sollen und dann nach dem gleichen schema umsetzen: z.B. holz, gras, steinboden, hauswand innen, hauswand außen, dach. damit koennen die dann schon ne kleine szene bauen. am einfachsten wird es wohl sein in einem cartoonhaften stil zu bleiben. phototexturen sind aufwaendiger und brauchen auch resourcen. sowas wuerd ich dann am ende des kurses mal noch einschieben.

    vielleicht hilft dir das ja. mapcore goes teaching!

    by using my german skills and google translate i got the jizzt of what you are saying, and I dont why would you be afraid of getting dissed?

    thanks everyone so far (hessi, that post is worth gold, i don't see any dissing danger here ) - i think i have some ideas now, will provide you with some slides and handouts, maybe i can even record the whole event

    while recording the event take in mind, that you have to ask for permission (uni + students). though i would rather like seeing you concentrating on the students than doing some video to promote your self.

    I think people tend to miss the basic important stuff. I would:

    1)Define a pixel, and how an image is made up of pixels. Then I would elaborate on that and explain how resolution and data are finite, explain up sampling, down sampling, explain how DPI actually works...

    2)Discuss RGB values, and bit depth.

    3)Introduce color spaces and basic color management. Explain how an RGB value is only a number and doesn't become a color until it is passed through multiple devices that attempt to use a common understanding of what said value is (ICC).

    4)Discuss destructive editing.

    then maybe move on to actual interface and tools like layers and brushes.

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